Basylom

Lidded Vessel 19th century North Nguni peoples This four-legged vessel, carved from a single piece of wood with a separate cover, can be considered an Nguni master sculptor’s tour de force, primarily intended to dazzle and delight the viewer as a triumphant feat of woodcarving. The ovoid form of the container itself is supported by—and appears to float within—a pedestal superstructure with four square legs that has an anthropomorphic quality. The cover, surmounted by a large, rounded handle with knobs of wood at either side, completes the central oval form. The surface of both the vessel and cover has been filled with deeply incised lines of rounded and soft marks that run in close parallel lines, following the overall shape of the vessel. These lines of surface decoration are arranged into blocks that visually juxtapose verticals and horizontals, and they may be intended to emulate the appearance of woven fabric. The direction of the lines on the inner container are also mirrored on the outer support, increasing the sense of dimensionality. This dramatic decorative surface program is a distinctive characteristic of the works in this school of Nguni sculpture.

Ben Enwonwu, Nigeria (1917 - 1994)

Ben Enwonwu was a painter and sculptor, one of the first true African modernists who by 1946 was exhibiting in a group show alongside Picasso in Paris. He grew up in the cosmopolitan market town of Onitsha in Nigeria, a centre of Igbo culture and colonial rule.

Selma Burke was born in 1900 in Mooresville, North Carolina. Art historians believe that Burke's bronze relief sculpture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the basis for his image on the dime. This sculpture, however, was just part of a long and distinguished artistic career. Burke, who described herself as "a people's sculptor", created sculptures of notable African-Americans such as A. Philip Randolph and Duke Ellington. She completed her final piece, a sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1980.

“This photograph of Joni Mitchell skating across Lake Mendota in Wisconsin is unreal to me. I love the negative space in the photo, and how it gives the sense of total freedom.”